


To All the Chats I've Loved Before

by alittleagreste



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien finds out first, F/M, Identity Reveal, Inspired by To All The Boys I've Loved Before, LadyNoir - Freeform, Love Letters, adrien's a mess, adrienette - Freeform, if you squint hehe, im a sucker for fluff tbh, it originally was an AU but things change, marinette loves chat too, one-sided reveal, the boy is in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:40:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23869153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alittleagreste/pseuds/alittleagreste
Summary: Adrien looked back and forth between the letters. He probably, no, he definitely should not have opened them. But, they fell out of Marinette’s bag, and they were addressed to him. Well, technically one was addressed to Chat Noir, but still him. And they were so tempting, he couldn’t refuse.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 5
Kudos: 224





	To All the Chats I've Loved Before

**_Dear Adrien Agreste,_ **

**_You have gotten to me._ **

**_I expected nothing less than a spoiled rich little brat and was pretty convinced that was all you were after I saw you putting that chewing gum on my seat. Regardless of your flawless body and gorgeous looks, you seemed a jerk, so you were._ **

**_But now, as I sit here with your umbrella closed on my desk and the rain pouring down outside, I’ve changed my mind. You’re amazing and wonderful, and everything I could ever want. I’m falling in love with you._ **

**_Love, Marinette Dupain-Cheng_ **

**_Dear Adrien Agreste,_ **

**_I don’t know how it’s gotten this far. I am full fledged, head over heels, helplessly in love with you._ **

**_I’m in too deep, I can’t breathe without thinking of you. You’re in everything, you surround me at all times and I feel like I can’t escape. But do I want to escape? I can’t seem to understand these feelings, which is why I’m writing this down._ **

**_I love you. I know I do. You’re everything to me. But will I ever be that to you?_ **

**_Love, Marinette Dupain-Cheng_ **

**_Dear Chat,_ **

**_In a funny sort of way, I’m in love with you._ **

**_I don’t know why. I mean, don’t get me wrong, you’re gorgeous, kind, and sometimes I feel like your eyes were literally carved from emerald, but you’re one of the biggest dorks I’ve ever known. Then again, even that is charming in its own way. Everything about you is intensely magnetic. I find myself drawn to you more than I’d like to admit. I have to remind myself that patrol is about making sure Paris is safe, not for admiring you. I honestly believe the reason I’m so enamored with you is due to the fact of us being partners. I put my trust into you, and you do the same for me, and I guess after almost two years of fighting by your side, it was inevitable that I’d fall for you. You care for me, and understand me more than anyone else can, because who else would understand what it’s like being a superhero other than you? You understand, and you care, and you love me. Always. Maybe someday soon we can know. And maybe we’ll find that this is the fairytale end that we could only dream of. I sure do hope so._ **

**_Love, Marinette Dupain-Cheng 🐞_ **

Adrien looked back and forth between the letters. He probably, no, he definitely should not have opened them. But, they fell out of Marinette’s bag, and they were addressed to him. Well, technically one was addressed to Chat Noir, but still him. And they were so tempting, he couldn’t refuse. There were three letters in total. One was in an envelope labeled Chat Noir, and two were placed in one labeled Adrien Agreste.

“Plagg, You know what this means, right?” Adrien looked down into his shirt pocket, unsurprisingly finding that Plagg was still asleep. Adrien let out a sigh.

“I can’t believe she’s been right here this whole time.”

“Yo Adrien!” He nearly jumped out of his skin, and shoved the letters into his backpack hurriedly. Turning around, Adrien saw Nino walking hand-in-hand with Alya. He smiled, awkwardly throwing up a wave in an effort to distract from his frantic reaction. Nino made his way around to the other side of the table and dropped carelessly into one of the chairs. Alya followed him, sitting herself right on Nino’s lap. Adrien rolled his eyes and fell right into conversation with them.

“Tikki, they're gone!” Marinette shrieked, throwing folders and papers out of her backpack. She searched over and over again, but still no luck. The letters were gone.

“Maybe you just dropped them somewhere, Marinette? Calm down, take some deep breaths!”

“Dropped them? Tikki, someone will find them! They’re gonna open them, and read them, and they’re gonna figure out that I’m Ladybug, then they’ll tell Adrien! They’ll tell everyone and I’ll be a laughing stock to all of Paris! My life will be over!” Marinette dramatically threw herself onto her bed and clutched a pillow close.

“Think rationally, Marinette, maybe they’re still where they fell. How about you go back to school early and look for them?” Marinette nodded and got up. As she came back into the school, she instantly started to search for her letters. She checked Mrs. Bustier’s room, the girl’s bathroom, the locker room, and even popped her head into the guy’s bathroom, just in case. They were nowhere to be found.

“Tikki, they’re gone. Who knows where they could be.” Marinette sighed and let her shoulders drop forward. She trudged her way upstairs to the library, where she knew she would find Alya on her lunch break. Adrien laughed with Alya as she cracked multiple jokes at Nino’s expense. In the middle of his laughter, he heard the library door creak open. Drawn to the noise, he turned around. Adrien froze as Marinette stepped into the library. He didn’t think about how soon he would be seeing her.

This was Ladybug. Strong, brave, wonderful Ladybug. This was the girl he swore that he would love no matter what. This was his partner. This was Marinette. Never back down, stand up to anyone, talented Marinette. And she was in love with him.

“Hey girl! What’s up?” Alya jumped up from Nino’s lap and made her way to Marinette quickly. Marinette shrugged a bit and hugged Alya. She began to whisper something into her ear, and Alya’s face fell as she pulled Marinette slightly to the side. Adrien couldn’t help but eavesdrop.

“-had two letters in the same envelope, but the envelope with the letters is gone.”

“Seriously? Did you maybe leave it in your room or something? I love you, but you do have some ditzy moments.” an overwhelming sense of guilt washed over Adrien. He really shouldn’t have opened those letters.

“No Al, I searched my whole room and my backpack. I even looked around the school. No sign of it. Someone must have it. I just hope they throw it away and don’t read the contents.” The guilt increased.

“Look, someone probably picked it up and tossed it in the trash,” _No_

“or someone picked it up and read the letters themselves, knew already, and will give it back to you,” _No again_

“worst-case, you-know-who found it and read them, which I highly doubt.” _Actually yes, that’s exactly what happened._

“What’s the matter, Mari-dude?” Nino asked from across the table. Alya turned to him and shook her head.

“Not important, Nino,” She turned back to Marinette.

“Do you want to chill with us until lunch ends?” Marinette nodded slightly, following Alya as she sat down in the chair next to Nino. Marinette sat down to the right of Adrien, and he had to hold his breath.

“H-h-hey Marinette! How’s up? I mean, what’s up!” His hand flew to his mouth as he stumbled over his words. _Oh god I’m such an idiot!_

“Hi Adrien! You’re, I mean, I’m great! Are you great? I mean not that I think you’re bad you look great, I mean, you look fine, better than fine!” Alya and Nino exchanged confused glances and both sighed. This was going to be one long break.

That night, Adrien read Marinette’s letters for the second time. And then a third time.

“I can’t believe I found her.” Adrien paced back and forth from his desk to his couch.

His mind filtered through every little thing he had done with Ladybug. Fighting side by side, always knowing they had each others back. Spending hours sitting on rooftops in the dead of night, learning as much as they could about each other. The first time they had met, her crashing into him and sweeping him off his feet. Literally.

“I don’t even know what to do now that I know.”

“Gee, have you thought about telling her? I mean now that you know, you could tell her the truth.” Plagg lounged carelessly on the middle of the couch cushion, munching his way through a wedge of camembert. Adrien gaped at him.

“Tell her? Are you kidding! She’d be so mad, and probably embarrassed, too!” Adrien shook his head and sat down in his desk chair. He buried his hands in his hair and slammed his forehead onto the desk surface.

“Look, kid, you’re going to have to tell her eventually. The longer you wait, the more upset she’s likely to be,” Plagg sat down on Adrien’s head.

“Honesty is the best policy, they always say. I, however, always say that cheese is more important!” Adrien sat up, Plagg moved to his shoulder.

“You’re right about the first part, Plagg. I guess I can just get it over with and tell her, like ripping off a band-aid.” Adrien folded up the letters and slipped them back into their rightful envelopes. He placed them together and stood up.

“Plagg, claws out!” Plagg groaned in frustration as he was pulled, unwillingly, into the ring.

Marinette sat on her balcony, mindlessly doodling in her sketchbook, when she heard the shuffle of boots landing on the ground. Peeking up from her sketchbook, she saw Chat Noir, which wasn’t too surprising, as he visited her occasionally, but it was still a little confusing.

“Chat Noir? What are you doing here?” Marinette shut her sketchbook and placed it on the table next to her. Chat followed her movements, shifting awkwardly.

“Uh, I found something of yours that I figured I should return.” Marinette’s eyebrows furrowed as Chat Noir pulled out two envelopes from behind his back. Two envelopes with very familiar penmanship. Two envelopes that were now open.

“I shouldn’t have read them, I’‘m sorry. But I saw my name and I couldn’t help but open them, and uh now I know who you are and I just figured that you deserved to know.” Marinette’s gaze shot back and forth between the letters and Chat’s face. She opened her mouth to yell at him, but she didn’t even get a word out before her vision went black as she dropped to the ground.

When Marinette came to, the first thing she noticed was that she was sat in her computer chair. Turning to her right, she saw Chat Noir sitting on her chair, letters still in hand.

“H-hey Marinette glad to see you’re awake. I’m just gonna give you these and-”

“why the hell do you have those!” Marinette almost screamed. Chat flinched, drawing his arm back from where it was extended.

“I found them? Yeah, they were outside where I was, and I saw my name on one so I picked them up! I opened mine, and then I kinda was curious about Adrien’s so I opened his too!” Chat Noir laughed nervously as he waited for Marinette’s response. He was alarmed when she started to laugh.

“Okay! Great! That’s great! I dropped the stupid letters, and you had to find them, and you had to open them, and now you know I’m Ladybug!”

Hearing her actually say it made it more real. It was like a white hot knife to his gut and he was forced to take in a sharp breath. “

You’re... Ladybug. We should probably talk about that. Now that I, y’know, know.” Marinette glanced up at him and then back to her hands, folded in her lap.

“Listen, I know you love Adrien, but what you said in the letter, it really feels like we could be real. I’ve loved you since the moment I met you, I hope you know that.” Marinette looked up at him. He was staring at her like a lovestruck kitten.

“Chat, listen. I love you, I really do, but Adrien has had my heart for so much longer. I can’t just give up on him. It’s not fair to him if he never even knows.” Chat sucked in a breath again.

Should he just tell her? Was it a bad time to just say ‘ _I’m right here, tell me?_ ’ He sighed.

“I can’t stray from him without ever telling him the extent of how I feel about him. I would feel like I had betrayed him.”

“So tell him. Tomorrow at school hand him this letter, and walk away, then let him find you and give his answer.” Chat smiled softly at her and rose out of the chair. He handed her the letters and moved toward the stairs up to the window.

“Chat, what about you? Are you sure?” She stood and moved toward him.

“Of course, my Lady. Just know I’m always there for you, even when you least expect it.” Chat smiled at her, and Marinette walked to him.

“Thank you, Chat.” She leaned forward and kissed his cheek softly. A blush quickly danced across his cheeks as he smiled. He signaled his goodbye and slipped out through the window. Shouts of joy rang out across the rooftops of Paris that night.

The next morning, Adrien was anything but calm and collected at school. His knee was constantly bouncing, he kept sighing, and he was almost always glancing toward Marinette.

“Dude, whats bugging you today?” Nino whispered to him after a particularly long sigh escaped his mouth. Adrien glanced at Nino half-heartedly, snapping out of his daze when he realized that Nino was actually quite concerned.

“Oh, it’s just my dad again, no big deal.” Adrien shifted his attention back to the front of the class and tried to forget about the girl sitting behind him. Said girl was focused on nothing but the back of his head, her head spinning with the same exact thing.

_I can’t do this! There is no way I can give him the letters!_

Marinette felt a shuffle from her purse and glanced down to see Tikki peering out, giving her a look that all but yelled “you can do it!”

Marinette smiled at Tikki and nodded. She would do it today, there was no backing out. She absolutely had to. She promised herself she would give them to him at lunch time.

Lunch had come much faster than it really had any right to. The morning had gone by so fast, and Marinette truly wasn’t ready to do what she had to. She watched Adrien from across the courtyard as he sat down on one of the benches placed in the shade. He seemed to be waiting for something.

“Alright, Tikki, if I do this now, I can throw the letters at him and run home really fast, that way he won’t be able to laugh in my face right away!” Tikki shook her head from inside Marinette’s purse.

“Just give him the letters and tell him to meet you later with his answer. That way you have time to prepare yourself for the worst!” Marinette smiled for a split second, and then her face fell. She really had to do this. Rising from the bench she had sat herself on, she made her way to where Adrien was. When he saw her approaching, he had to force himself not to get too excited.

“Hey, Marinette!” He smiled at her and waved. She fumbled.

“Ah, hey! I, um, have to give you something! It’s not important so feel free to just throw it away without looking at it! But um, if you do, please meet me in the park in an hour?” Marinette thrust the envelope towards him, and he carefully pulled it from her hands.

“Okaycoolthanksseeyoubye!” Marinette took off running towards the main doors to the school, rushing her way outside so she didn’t have to risk saying something stupid. She also really didn’t want to see if he threw away the letters or if he actually read them. Oh god. She actually did it. She had given him the letters, where she confessed her feelings for him.

Oh _god_! Marinette made her way to the park and found the bench she and Adrien had occupied during their break from practicing for the Ultimate Mecca Strike III tournament. She sat down and put her head in her hands.

“Tikki, I’m going to throw up.” Tikki just giggled and nibbled on a macaron inside her purse.

Adrien signed the bottom of his own return letter.

Originally, he debated going to the park as Chat Noir. Thinking about it realistically, it was irresponsible and dangerous to de-transform in a public park. His only option was to head there as Adrien. So, that’s what he did. After re-reading the letters and going over Chat’s in his head, he had a solid reply. After about 30 minutes after Marinette had left, Adrien made his way over to the park. He could see Marinette sitting on a bench, looking more than a little stressed, with her knees pulled up to her chin, her face hidden in them.

“Marinette?” She yelped and shot up.

“A-adrien!” She glanced down at the letters gripped in his hand and then back to his face.

“So you read them! Okay, ha ha! Yeah, that’s great!” Adrien smiled at her slightly, and reached out towards her. Marinette reached down, a remorseful look on her face, fully preparing for the rejection she had so often feared. Instead, she was greeted by a pink envelope with her name written on the front.

“Read it.” came Adrien’s voice softly. Marinette’s fingers shook as she opened the envelope and pulled the letter out.

**_Dear Marinette Dupain-Cheng,_ **

**_How do I even start? I feel like saying I love you doesn’t nearly capture exactly how much I do._ **

**_I always have, we both always have. We were just looking at the wrong parts of each other. Thankfully, I’ve come to notice that, and I’ve changed my way of viewing you, and I hope you do too. It may come as a shock to you that I’ve been by your side, loving you constantly, for the last two years. It sure did come as a shock to me._ **

**_From the moment you crashed into me on that street, I knew this was my destiny. You. I have never felt accepted in my life, until the day Ladybug and Chat Noir began working together. I knew that Ladybug and I would be an unstoppable team, and would you look at us now. It all makes sense that we would fall for each other, in every way that we could. It may not be the best time, and it may not be how you wanted, but today is that someday, and now we know. I want you to know all of me. The me that loves all of you._ **

**_Love, Adrien Agreste 🐾_ **

Marinette looked up from the letter, tears pooling at the corners of her eyes.

“Adrien? You’re Chat Noir?” Adrien smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

“Sorry if it’s disappointing, My Lady.” Marinette broke out into a grin and threw her arms around Adrien’s neck. He linked his arms around her back in an instant and held her close to him.

“I’m so glad it was you.” She breathed into his neck. Marinette pulled back slightly and looked into the emerald eyes she knew so well. Her face fell as she realized something.

“Hold on. You could’ve done all of this last night!” Adrien bit his lip slightly and chuckled.

“I was scared you would kill me.” Marinette laughed at him and shook her head.

“My silly kitty.” They both smiled at each other before Adrien leaned in and captured her lips with his own.

**Author's Note:**

> A few things; firstly, I've finally joined AO3 and am posting my works here as well as on tumblr.  
> second, this was supposed to be an AU. It’s much more of a ‘yes secret love letters!” It honestly was not what I had planned at ALL. Adrien and Marinette really took this story into their own hands and ran with it.


End file.
